PVE Quarterly Highlights: April - June 2023

Global Highlights 

• The 2022 Global PVE Annual Report is out! This report presents the work and achievements of UNDP over the year 2022 on PVE in 41 countries, as well as on innovative approaches in addressing hate speech across 49 countries and integrating mental health and psycho-social support across 25 countries and return and reintegration across 15 countries into peacebuilding. Read more here. 

• The 7th Meeting of the Secretary General’s High Level Action Group on Preventing Violent Extremism was held on 28th April. This principal level event aimed at discussing the UN’s response to the spread of violent extremism in some parts of Africa, and its subsequent global implications on PVE. The meeting was attended by 20 Compact entities, including 7 USGs, 5 ASGs and 8 Directors (both virtual and in-person). UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner, presented the main findings and recommendations from UNDP’s latest studies and highlighted the importance of collectively addressing the root causes of violent extremism and strengthening good governance at local levels with community leaders, faith-based actors, youth and women peacebuilders, for maximum sustained impact. 

• UNDP’s commitment to integrate mental health in peacebuilding: UNDP’s CPPRI/PVE team, DPPA and the Permanent Mission of Canada to the UN hosted a panel discussion on how peacebuilding efforts can better integrate mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) to strengthen resilience for sustainable peace. In the closing remarks, George Conway, Crisis Bureau Deputy Director, highlighted the recommendations of the UNDP Guidance Note and reminded the audience that ‘at UNDP, we are committed to bringing MHPSS at the centre of our peacebuilding work.’ This year, 27 COs are implementing MHPSS programmes – specific thanks to the Iraq Country Office team for joining the panel discussion! 

• UNDP was at the forefront of the 11th PEACECON Conference, organised from 3rd to 5th May 2023 by Alliance for Peacebuilding, with three events:  

  • Parliaments, Media and Hate Speech Session; Co-organised with the UNDP BPPS/Governance team, the event outlined best practices from UNDP’s recently published “Stepping Forward: Parliaments in the Fight Against Hate Speech” issue brief. Bringing together parliamentarians from Canada and Malaysia and UNDP experts from Kenya and Montenegro, with lessons learned from engaging with civil society and media, the session provided concrete actions as well as available tools, partnerships and approaches for a whole-of-society response to hate speech. 

  • From Evidence to Impact: Community-based engagement to PVE; In partnership with Chemonics, the session provided insights on evidence-based prevention interventions, such as using existing evidence to design effective conflict reduction and peacebuilding. UNDP Pakistan also part of the panellist to share experiences from community-based programmes to PVE.  

  • From policy to action: Global examples of integrating mental health into peacebuilding session; Moderated by Beyond Conflict, the session showcases four organizations’ (UNDP, Glasswing International, US Institute of Peace, and Counter Extremism Project) concrete and innovative approaches to integrating MHPSS in peacebuilding and violence prevention programmes. Their interventions are aimed at reducing community violence, facilitating recovery after displacement due to armed conflict, and preventing violent extremism. 

• Marking the 2nd International Day of Countering hate speech, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director for Crisis Bureau, Asako Okai, participated in the high-level event co-organized by the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Morocco to the UN and the UN Office of the Special Adviser on Genocide Prevention (OSAPG). Spread the word and join us in saying #NoToHate. 

  • Read UNDP’s Director for CB, Asako Okai’s statement to learn more about how UNDP is making an impact in addressing root causes of hate speech - offline and online - as a way to build societies resilient to the risk of violence, including violent extremism and atrocity crimes.  

  • Watch the whole event here: It Begins With Words and Each of Us: Effective Action to Counter Hate Speech 

• The 3rd UN Counter-Terrorism Week was held from 19th to 23rd June. The event comprised of: 

  • UN high level conference of heads of counter-terrorism agencies of Member States on the overarching theme of “Addressing Terrorism through Reinvigorated Multilateralism and Institutional Cooperation”; UNDP’s Crisis Bureau Director, Asako Okai, was invited as one of the eminent speakers at the 4th Session “Strengthening Capacity Building Programmes – Making Them Fit for Purpose to Meet Resilience Gaps”. Advocating for a renewed international focus and resources to address the underlying drivers of violent extremism, she mentioned UNDP’s Crisis Offer and the recently launched 2022 Global PVE Annual Report. The recording is available here. 

  • The Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly to adopt the 8th biennial review resolution of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy; The 8th review of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy was adopted on 22nd June. Once again, UNDP’s work has been acknowledged consecutively as stated in the Resolution on achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which comprises universal goals and targets that involve the entire world, developed and developing countries alike, can contribute to the implementation of the Strategy.   

  • 40 side events jointly organized by Member States, UN Global Counter-Terrorism Compact entities, intergovernmental organizations, civil society organizations, academia and the private sector.  

    • In partnership with EU Foreign Policy Instrument (FPI) and ICAN, UNDP (Global PVE team) organised a side-event, “Promoting PVE through Fostering Peace, Resilience, Equality, and Pluralism (PREP) in collaboration with Community-based Actors”. The event aimed to convey how the international, national, and local stakeholders, with different but complementary perspectives, effectively collaborate to address violent extremism at the community level with a preventative and human security lens. Specific examples came from Iraq, Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria. 

    • In a side event, “Addressing the Evolving Terrorist Threat by Strengthening Cooperation between the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact and Regional Organisation”, organised by the African Union Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and UNOCT, the Regional Bureau of Africa Director, Ahunna Eziakonwa, attended as a speaker to called for stronger action on the AU’s Malabo Declaration; adopt a multi-dimentional proactive approach; allocate adequate resources at the national level. The recording is available here. 

    • Separately, UNDP Kyrgyzstan co-organised another side-event, “Innovative Practices in the Implementation of National CT and PVE Policies: Examples from Kenya’s Devolved PCVE Model and Kyrgyzstan’s National Programme on Countering Extremism and Terrorism”. With the aim of providing an overview of the lessons learned in the development implementation of national strategies to Counter Terrorism and PVE, the Kyrgyz delegation from the State National Security Committee and the Counterterrorism Centre attended the event to provide insights on their whole of society and whole of government PCVE programme. 

Regional Highlights 

• Comoros mission (1st to 12th May): Commissioned upon express request from the Comorian Government, and following a recent high-level visit from the deputy regional director of the Regional Bureau for Africa (RBA) in February 2023, a joint RBA-Crisis Bureau hybrid mission was undertaken, among others, to accompany the country office in undertaking a detailed assessment of potential threats and risks in relation to violent extremism and its prevention (PVE), and the regional crisis impact, particularly noting the proximity to areas affected by violent extremism in the sub-region in the Cabo Del Gado province. The exploratory mission was guided by a highly consultative approach and involved the engagement of a plethora of stakeholders. The mission highlighted the need for enhanced capacity to monitor trends and ascertain the relative significance of risk factors relating to social cohesion more broadly and PVE-specific risks specifically, and identified entry points for strengthening resilience through the existing infrastructures for peace.  

• Policy dialogues on PVE: Following the recent launch of the PVE report series in February 2023, including the groundbreaking research of 2023: Journey to Extremism in Africa: Pathways to Recruitment and Disengagement: a series of events have been carried out to facilitate structured and targeted policy dialogues, convening key stakeholders to reflect on the findings and recommendations, and take stock of how the international community can better promote integrated approaches to more effectively prevent and respond to the increasing threat of violent extremism on the continent. In Q2, this included a Journey to Extremism Policy Dialogue in Geneva, held in the Palais des Nations, which included the re-display of an informative exhibition, visually highlighting the life stories and key findings and recommendations of the report and its call to action. During Geneva Policy Dialogue, ONU Info Genève conducted an interview with Giordano Segneri Governance and Peacebuilding Coordinator at Regional Hub for Arab States Link to an interview in Franch, Spotify, Article by UN Geneva, and Article by Ecosystem info. In addition, it included a Brown Bag session on Journey to Extremism 2.0 in New York.  

• Workshop on Building Collaborative Capacity to Face Contemporary Challenges to Development in Chiang Mai: Held from 24th-29th April, organised by the UNDP Regional Bureau for the Asia Pacific PVE team, the workshop served as a platform for senior-level intermediaries and experts from several countries in the wider Asia-Pacific region to discuss key ideas of negotiation, dialogue and mediation and share their experiences. The workshop resulted in a set of practical recommendations for future interventions, with the potential of creating a regional network of insider mediators to facilitate knowledge sharing and build capacity.  

• Peace Connects; a youth-centered Consultation on Digital Peacebuilding, Bangkok, 18th-19th May  The Consultation, organised by the UNDP Regional Bureau for the Asia Pacific PVE team, served as a platform for CSOs, journalists, policy makers, faith-based organizations, online influencers, youth peacebuilders, and UN Agencies from across South and Southeast Asia to discuss digitalization in peacebuilding efforts in the region. Over 70 participants from over 10 countries joined in to discuss trends in digital harm in fragile and conflict settings and explored localized and innovative solutions. This was the first regional Consultation on the subject, and resulted in new partnerships and a set of practical recommendations for programming and interventions – guiding the development of a regional pilot for youth-focused digital peacebuilding programmes.  

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• ECIS Webinar on Hate Speech: On 16th June, the Regional hub for Europe and Central Asia, in collaboration with the PBF-funded project ‘Youth 4 Inclusion, Equality & Trust’, held an online discussion amongst youth in the region leading efforts to prevent and counter hate speech. Marking International Day Against Hate Speech, the event brought together youth panelists from Moldova, Albania, Georgia, Serbia and Kyrgyzstan, who called for greater support to youth networks, strengthened policy frameworks and youth-led innovation.

Country Highlights 

• Cote d’Ivoire 

  • From 13th to 29th June, UNDP initiated a peace caravan in five localities in the North to encourage people to show greater solidarity and social cohesion. Peace caravan to boost solidarity and social cohesion in northern Côte d'Ivoire | The United Nations in Côte d'Ivoire 

• Ghana 

  • The “Vulernabilities Assessment on the Threats of Violent Extremism and Radicalisation in Northern Regions of Ghana” Report was published on 27th June. Supported by the Crisis Bureau, this report focuses on an assessment of community-specific vulnerabilities of individuals, groups and communities to being radicalized towards eventual violent extremism. It applies a gender lens, in particular, to the transition areas and the five northern regions to guide targeted interventions. 

• Kyrgyzstan 

  • Along the celebration of the International Day of Countering Hate Speech, UNDP Kyrgyzstan published a manual, “From Hate Speech to Non-Violent Communication”, which is available in Kyrgyz, English and Russian. The manual provides insightful analysis and examples on manifestations of hate speech, focusing on ethical aspects in media. Separately, under the “Combatting Hate Speech and Information Pollution for Social Cohesion in Kyrgyzstan” project, in partnership with International Debate Education Association (IDEA) Central Asia, trainings were conducted to trainers from multiple entities to raise awareness of hate speech and its implication to society. These training led to a network of hate speech trainers creating a ripple effect of training others and raising public awareness on hate speech.  

• Morocco 

  • UNDP Morocco organised a Capacity Building Workshop for Social Workers in Socio-Professional Support to Returnees and Their Families in partnership with the Foundation Mohammed VI for 50 social workers and professionals in reintegration to equip the participants with tools and strategies to provide effective socio-professional support.  

  • Training for Institutional Stakeholders to Support Professional Rehabilitation of Repatriated Women aimed to provide information on PVE, raise awareness among stakeholders of the specific needs of target groups, and enhance knowledge of project development strategies. It included information on individual needs assessments, personalized rehabilitation plan design, as well as vocational training and placement assistance for 40 national stakeholder representatives in 4 relevant regions (Casablanca, Sale, Tangier and Fez).   

  • Training for Civil Society: Build the Capacities of Local and Neighborhood Women's Associations in Economic Resilience. This training aimed to empowering local women's associations and neighbourhood organizations for the sustainable economic resilience of women, reinforcing their role as intermediaries. The training reached 28 associations from 10 regions. 

• Tajikistan 

  • UNDP Tajikistan organized a seminar for 83 Advisory Group members on PVE and reintegration and rehabilitation of returnees (RRR) presented at the community level to facilitate knowledge and experience exchange among 8 regions of Tajikistan. Key outcomes of the seminar included improved knowledge and skills among group members, valuable recommendations for applying successful practices in other regions, and the establishment of a formal knowledge-sharing mechanism/network to prevent early signs of community radicalization. Moreover, in the course of the event, the Toolkit on PVE and RRR has been presented to the Advisory Groups that is developed by UNDP Tajikistan with the aim to address knowledge and capacity gaps among participants in PVE and RRR processes, to support the entities involved in this work in adopting the age-oriented and gender-sensitive approaches based on human rights. 

• Trinidad and Tobago: 

  • The Step-Up Initiative Graduation Ceremony celebrated the accomplishments of the "Gentleman's Club" from the Bethlehem Boys RC School, one of five (5) winners of the UNDP Peace Innovation Challenge 2021. Led by educator Felix Brown, this initiative aimed to build resilience in young boys preventing their involvement in gangs and radicalisation through field trips, skill-building activities, and mentorship. The boys gained valuable experiences, visiting parliament, the National Museum, and tertiary education institutes.